we start with the fight over chuck hagel, and a fight it was. senate republicans, most notably john mccain, have effectively blocked his confirmation at least for now. they are demanding more information from president obama on the attack in benghazi. joining me as they do every week on cnn, democratic strategist maria cordona and amy holmes, editor for "the blaze." maria, i'll start with you. >> good morning. >> talk about a testy confirmation hearing. is this just the latest part of some playground, or do you think there's more to this? >> i think it is absolutely the latest in partisan politics, susan. and i think it doesn't bode well for the republicans. they already have a perception from the american people that this is the party of no, the party of obstruction. the party that just wants to deny president obama whatever it is that he is asking for. and they haven't really offered anything positive for the american people to support them on. and i think this is just the latest in that. and you see it from their own words, they said, look, t